March 2005 Archive
March News Saved * Stuff of lasting interest or value. Game Dev Conference 2005 * Coming up again in my home town of San Francisco in early March. * Their agenda bears a stricking resemblance to our own goals here. * So much so, let me quote: * '''Game Design Track Highlights''' * "Creating compelling, immersive games requires understanding, visualizing, demonstrating, and tuning the interactions of an ever-increasing number of game tools and systems. * While game designers need to understand and exploit the possibilities of new technologies such as realistic physics, facial expressions, and lighting techniques; '''they must also continue to master the traditional disciplines of drama, gameplay, and psychology.''' * The Game Design Track explores the challenges and ramifications of the interaction between new technologies and established techniques." * Check-out the rest of the agenda: * [http://www.gdconf.com/conference/ Here] Democracy in the WZ Game World * This is something that has become integral to the Backstory & Unfolding of '''WZ 2120: The South American Campaign''', from my POV... * I've commenced a discussion on this aspect of the work by way of a '''Time-Line of Story Premises''' * Participate in: * [http://warzone2100.wikicities.com/wiki/The_Arc_of_Democracy_in_WZ The Arc of Democracy in WZ] * Let me intrigue you with this quote: * '''Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.''' * That was said by master prose stylist, legendary editor of the "New Yorker" & author of the classic "Charlotte's Web" - E.B. White (1899-1985). World-Building: WZ 2120 * The original backstory & rationale for WZ 2100 was somewhat flawed in its tecnological, economic & sociological extrapolations. * WZ 2120 will address these deficiences & inconsistencies in world-building. * New Energy Sources for the "Mars CAM" and the "South American CAM" such as: * '''Geothermal''' Energy Source.... * '''Hydrogen Fuel Cell''' Energy Source.... * Are just the begining. * The Scav cultures will be built on the principles of '''Sustainability''' * The "Fossil Fuel Economy" will be entirely supplanted. * "Cybernetics & Nano" will be the foundation of Technology or "T-4". * Warfare mechanisms will subsume 21st Century Military Doctrine such as "Situational Awareness & Velocity". * "Experience & Rank" will be integral to gameplay & the Player will have an in-game Avatar as a Commander Unit. * The foundation sources for all of this are numerous. * I'll only be able to mention a key few. * I'll start with '''The Rocky Mountain Institute''' * [http://www.rmi.org/ HERE] * The paper on a "Hydrogen Fuel Economy" is a great place to start. * [http://warzone2100.wikicities.com/index.php/New_Technologies Discuss New Tech Proposals Here] * There are a whole host socio-political-cultural ramifications to even just these tech premises that will manifest in "Factions". * In due course we'll get to it all & I hope it will come to a common ground that sparks collaborations. * Rman Jack "Act of War" Goes Gold * As fans of WZ 2100 we are passionate about the RTS Genre. * We look for the outstanding games in this genre.... to wit: * With close to a Million downloads of its Demo in little over a month... * That gameplay success is partly predicated on medivacing your wounded & rescuing hostages. * That part of your economy is based on POW captures..... * That the story is written by an author who has 15 New York Times Bestsellers. * That the 3 Factions have distinct Special Abilities & Technology.. * That the Cinematics (almost an hours worth) could easily be seen in your local Multiplex & pass muster * That MP has been tweeked for months based on the input of hard-core Net Gamers.. * That the Sound, LOD & Camera Schema make for an awesome experience I would call "TOTAL....VISCERAL....IMMERSION".... * Conclusion - take a gander .... * '''Act of War'''. * [http://www.atari.com/actofwar/form.htm At least Get the DEMO Here] WZ OPs With Robots ? * This choice find came to our attention by way of Member Cybersphinx. * You Wz modders out there have got to check this out. * Not just as a New Unit / Platform in Wz.... * IMHO, it could also radicalize gameplay * Of course all issues & concerns over game-balance would apply. * That would have to be looked at more comprehensively, no doubt. * But in the present moment - the possibilities are provocative, exiteing & MOD-inspiring. * Other kwel stuff on this site about Materials & Sensors well worth perusing. :) * Thanks Cybersphinx ! * [http://www.foster-miller.com/projectexamples/t_r_military/talon_robots.htm Military Robots & More] * Interested in putting-forth some of your ideas: * [http://warzone2100.wikicities.com/index.php/Real_Life_Military_Stuff Discussion Here] Chojun's Ambitious WZ Project * Warzone 2100 is written in '''Gnarly C''' * Chojun calls his Project: * "A Shiny New Framework" * What he's doing is the precursor to re-creating portions of WZ 2100 ala OOP: Object-Oriented. * His object of attention (pun intended) is the heart of modifying WZ - the .wdg structure. * From the .wdg much else can be leverged as Archimedes would say (yes, that pun was intended as well.) * The details of how he's tackling this long-term project I hope will be made available @ '''BerliOS''' in the near future. * It was at the realtimestrategies.net Forums & called '''A Shiny New Framework''' but those bbs are not available presently due to the domain not being renewed - same deal as what happened with P-2 little over a year ago. * Does history repeat or just rhyme ? * It's hard to tell the difference on these occasions. * Rman 3/10/05 LEGO Star Wars * It's wacky, out-there... some would say, down-right weird... * But... It Works ! It's Kwel ! Pure FUN ! * Loved the first trilogy of movies. Couldn't get enough of Legos as a kid. Now I can have both. Imagine that, a full grown man playing with Legos, heh. * Playable Demo was Just Released.... * [http://gamesdomain.yahoo.com/pc/lego_star_wars/files/66054 Get It Here] * There are several mirrors for this 228 MB download. * What's the connect to WZ ? You ask... * '''Modularization''', the over-arcing strategy of the WZ Code ReDev. effort. * Externalizing as much as possible from the core game engine... aka, modularization. * And what could be a more apt metaphor of that strategy than LEGOS... (thanks Troman...) * Course a far less technical rationale - it's just unvarnished gameplay joy. * If you give it a whirl on your box tell us your what you think - even if it ain't that nice: * [http://warzone2100.wikicities.com/wiki/The_Action_Genre Discuss] Next Item=